TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested a 75-year-old man after he allegedly slashed another passenger’s face with a knife on a bus in Ota Ward on Monday.
The altercation happened because the suspect, Tomio Ishii, became update at the sound of the victim’s newspaper, reports Nippon News Network (June 1).
Shortly after 10:00 a.m., Ishii became enraged while riding a local bus, complaining that the rustling sound of a male passenger reading a newspaper was “noisy.”
The dispute quickly escalated. Upon reaching a bus stop, Ishii allegedly dragged the man off the vehicle and slashed him across the left cheek with a folding knife.
The victim, who sustained minor injuries in the attack, immediately fled to a nearby police box to report the crime.
Ishii fled the scene but was tracked down and arrested by officers approximately an hour and a half later, about one kilometer away from the bus stop. Police recovered a folding knife from his possession at the time of his arrest.
During police questioning on suspicion of attempted murder, Ishii partially denied the charges. “I slashed him with the intention of threatening him,” he told investigators, adding, “I had no intention of killing him.”
Police are continuing to investigate the exact circumstances leading up to the violent altercation.
